“Researchers have established a direct link between the number of friends you have on Facebook and the degree to which you are a ‘socially disruptive’ narcissist, confirming the conclusions of many social media sceptics,” Damien Pearse reports for The Guardian.

“People who score highly on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory questionnaire had more friends on Facebook, tagged themselves more often and updated their newsfeeds more regularly,” Pearse reports. “The research comes amid increasing evidence that young people are becoming increasingly narcissistic, and obsessed with self-image and shallow friendships.”

Pearse reports, “The latest study, published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, also found that narcissists responded more aggressively to derogatory comments made about them on the social networking site’s public walls and changed their profile pictures more often. A number of previous studies have linked narcissism with Facebook use, but this is some of the first evidence of a direct relationship between Facebook friends and the most ‘toxic’ elements of narcissistic personality disorder.”

…this sounds like a job for (ta-da!) SuperRitalin®!…yes, now you too can raise your child in a easy-to-manage, cationic state with the complete blessings of the American Medical Association and all your pals at the journal of Personality and Individual Differences…don’t let your babies grow up to be narcissistic cowboys.

Couldn’t have put it better myself. I wonder how the overwhelming desire to publish blatantly obvious research like this rates on the Narcissus Scale?
The constant need for peer approval, and continual praise from outside, seems like exactly the same sort of behaviour to me.